The UK’s major rail companies are asking the public whether they think in-person ticket offices should close. Barring a shock twist where they heed responses to this token consultation, London Bridge will become Southwark’s only national rail station with a ticket office.
The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) says this is in the name of “modernisation”, casting those who oppose the changes as Luddites. But this isn’t a question of modernisation versus stagnation, it’s one of heartlessness versus compassion.
Ticket offices remain very important to millions of train users. For the elderly, they mean a reassuring, friendly face. For the mentally impaired, they mean a simple explanation of departure times. For the deaf, they mean useful hearing loops. For the blind, they mean skipping the hassle of those confusing machines.
To make up for it, the RDG says it will put more staff on platforms and around stations, providing “a more visible and accessible staff presence”. Yet disability campaign groups say they’ve had “little reassurance” this will make a difference.
The RDG has also make the spurious claim the changes will help ticket office staff take up “new and engaging” platform roles. Make no mistake, this is about reducing overheads and making more profit. The welfare of staff – who’ve been fighting tooth and nail for an inflation-matching pay rise – is barely an afterthought.
Many of Southwark’s national rail stations are already inaccessible to disabled people. Peckham Rye, South Bermondsey, North Dulwich, Nunhead, and Sydenham Hill stations are all without step-free access. These changes will only make things worse.
Maybe the people and politicians of Southwark would have more faith in the rail companies if the nation’s rail system was a semi-functioning service. In reality, prices are so high the average person can barely afford a ticket.
Meanwhile, Westminster refuses to step in. The fact that even this Conservative government was forced to nationalise the TransPennine Express should have been a wake-up call. It showed that vital public infrastructure suffers when left entirely in private hands. But government ministers instead give rail operators their tacit, sometimes explicit, support.
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With all the supposed protections against disability discrimination, it’s mind-boggling that the loss of ticket offices is looking so likely. Modernisation is inevitable. But this brand of digital determinism is verging on cruel.
